Transferred by jail minister, officer back again in Kapurthala Jail

Kapurthala jail superintendent Paramjeet Singh Sandhu, who was transferred to the high-security jail, Nabha, by Punjab jails minister Sohan Singh Thandal himself on August 26 over serious allegations of tampering with jail records, has been deputed again in the same jail by the department within eight days of the orders.

Kapurthala jail superintendent Paramjeet Singh Sandhu, who was transferred to the high-security jail, Nabha, by Punjab jails minister Sohan Singh Thandal himself on August 26 over serious allegations of tampering with jail records, has been deputed again in the same jail by the department within eight days of the orders.

Meanwhile Gurpal Singh, who was transferred to Kapurthala Jail on his place, has again been deputed to Nabha Jail.

The new orders were issued on September 2, 2015, by principal secretary home (jails) and its copy was sent to both the officials concerned on September 8. The copy has also been sent to inspector general of police (IGP) (jails) Jagjit Singh to whom the minister had asked to conduct a probe against Sandhu.

Sandhu confirmed about his transfer to Kapurthala Jail and said he was already working here as DSP, as Gurpal Singh did not join his duty.

The minister had ordered the department to transfer Sandhu after deputy superintendent of police (jails) Vikramjeet Panthe, who had got injured after assailants opened fire at him on June 27 in Jalandhar, made a representation before him on August 24, pertaining to the case of promoting a warder Gurdev Singh as head warder in jail by Sandhu by allegedly issuing a letter on the backdate.

In a communiqué (a copy with HT), the minister said, "I have gone through documents of the case and the evidence produced by Panthe and found that Sandhu had not followed directions and violated guidelines issued by the head office and wrong promoted Gurdev." The minister said on behest of Sandhu's written promotion orders to Gurdev, the latter also perverted the Punjab and Haryana high court.

Thandal also mentioned that as this matter was going since October 2014 and head office (jails) also failed to take any action on the erring officials, the conduct of senior officials was also suspicious. "Sandhu must be transferred from Kapurthala jail so that he is not able to destroy the record of the case," Thandal mentioned in the communiqué.

The minister was unavailable for the comments as he was busy in cabinet meeting in Chandigarh. IG Jails Jagjit Singh did not respond calls made on his number.

As per representation available with HT, Panthe wrote that on October 17, 2014, warder Gurdev was wearing the uniform of the head warder in the jail and when he quizzed about reason, he failed to give any answer due to which he suspended Gurdev on the same day and informed Gurdaspur superintendent headquarters (the zone in which Kapurthala jail falls) and Chandigarh head office through an email.

On October 20, 2014, Gurdaspur superintendent headquarters also confirmed his suspension through a letter number (9899), but Sandhu failed to follow the order.

ADGP (jails) also ordered Gurdev's transfer to Bathinda central jail on October 22, 2014, but he never joined. In the meantime, Gurdev approached Punjab and Haryana high court and got a stay over his suspension on the basis of a letter allegedly issued on backdate by Sandhu.

The DSP mentioned that in the issued letter, Sandhu claimed to have sent a copy of letters (number 8799-8802) to the Gurdaspur superintendent headquarters and three cops but in reality, the letter was not sent to the headquarters as Gurdaspur authorities also confirmed that it had not received any copy of such letter.

Panthe further stated that junior assistant (dispatch clerk) Mandeep Kaur also replied to him that on August 25, 2014, officer superintendent Sant Singh had asked to not to use number 8799 to 8802 in dispatch register.

Panthe told to minister that he had always worked with honesty, discipline and taken strict action against drug nexus in the jails and doubted Sandhu as he might destroy record of Gurdev's case or he even could prepare fake case against him.